Passing out Parade of Thura Company of 120th Intake of Defence Services (Army) Officers Training School (Bahtoo) held

Nay Pyi Taw April 7

Passing out Parade of the Thura Company of the 120th Intake of Officers Training Course of Defence Services (Army) Officers Training School (Bahtoo) was held at the parade ground of the OTS in Fort Bahtoo at 7.30 am today. On behalf of Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Maha Thray Sithu Min Aung Hlaing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Thiri Pyanchi Soe Win delivered an address at the ceremony.

Also present were Daw Than Than Nwe, wife of the Vice-Senior General, senior military officers of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, the commander of Eastern Command, the commander of Central-East Command, senior military officers of the Bahtoo Station, invited guests, cadets and their parents and relatives.

First, Vice-Senior General Thiri Pyanchi Soe Win took the salute of the cadet companies, and then,inspected the cadet companies. The cadet companies saluted the Vice-Senior General in slow march-past and quick march-past.

In his address, the Vice-Senior General said today the Tatmadaw is reinforced by new generation junior officers as the day marks the completion of the Thura Company of the 120th Intake of OTS. It is also a significant day for you also.On behalf of Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Maha Thray Sithu Min Aung Hlaing, I will tell you in all seriousness the things you must know. The aim of the OTS is to bring out brilliant army officers who can effectively command an infantry platoon in a battle. After being assigned as junior leaders at the respective battalions and units,efforts should be made to become good and dutiful officers trusted by the superiors and respected and valued by the subordinates.

The Tatmadaw is patriotic armed forces born during the independence struggle. The Tatmadaw restored independence with the participation of the entire people. It is also shouldering the national defence duties in safeguarding the sovereignty with the help of the entire nation. The history of the Tatmadaw that is formed with children of all the national races and is standing with fine traditions always goes together with the history of the country. Historical experiences call for a national political force to pave a non-deviated national political path and to constantly protect the national interest. The national political force in reality is the Tatmadaw imbued with the fine tradition of ever loyal to the state and the people. All these recommendations given by Senior General Maha Thray Sithu Min Aung Hlaing in his address at the 72nd Anniversary Armed Forces Day must be observed.

As the Tatmadaw’s main duty is to shoulder defence duties, it is trying to build a standard army in order to catch up with the international community. In so doing, the State can fully be defended only if efforts are made by pursuing changing technologies. Our country was colonized with sovereignty lost and fell under alien rule at a time when internal unity broke up, when the unity of respective leading organizations collapsed and when a modern Tatmadaw did not exist.It is therefore essential to have a modern Tatmadaw capable of protecting national sovereignty and lives and property of the people.It is likely that 21st Century wars will be waged in various directions and fields without limitations. And only a military with technological superiority will win a battle on the ground. So we must try to become a Tatmadaw capable of fighting modern wars. It is therefore necessary to do constant learning in line with the motto “learn, train and follow orders” so as to keep abreast of changing military tactics and strategies.

As our country is strategically and geopolitically located between the two powerful countries, our Tatmadaw has a main duty to defend national sovereignty from being lost apart from shouldering defence duties. In doing so, we must become Tatmadawmen equipped with high combat power so as to safeguard Our Three Main National Causes, the national duty of the country. During the nine-month course, basic military skills, leadership, general staff, adjutant and quartermaster subjects were practically and theoretically taught.In this age of advancing technology,military skills and defence strategies are advancing unlike in the past. As education is boundless, trainees must not be complacent about what they have been taught and they must continue learning. They must act in combination of theories and practices to overcome any difficulty that can emerge on battlefield when they start to shoulder duties practically. To improve the quality of themselves and their units, they must continue to practise what they have learned from the course and learn advancing military tactics and high-tech weaponry. The military skills they have learned must also be used in a practical field. When one join the Tatmadaw, one must exactly follow order discipline. Discipline means do’s and don’ts. At the passing-out parade of the 58th Intake of the Defence Services Academy,Senior General Maha Thray Sithu Min Aung Hlaing said: Normally it can be assumed that the discipline is strict. Strong discipline existed as tradition and backbone of the Tatmadaw. If the field discipline were not followed, there would be sacrifices for us to endure. While performing the assigned tasks, obeying the disciplines and orders precisely will surely bring success as well as the battles can effectively be commanded because of perfect obedience. Moreover you, comrades must have a sound moral. You are to perform it successfully and you must control yourself whatever task has been laid upon you. You don’t have to gratify your own desire and the same time you don’t have to indulge the underlings. Giving up to one’s way tends to spoil him and surely end with destruction. If you gratify the desire of the underlings,the command and administration will be diminished and ruined. Hence the organization that you have to take command must be controlled and well-disciplined, quoted the Vice-Senior General as saying.

He continued to say that despite the learning of basic concepts during the course, they must be used in combination with practical field which is wide. When one serves duties as a junior officer, one must try to become a good follower as well as a role model for subordinates. They must always strive for serving interest of the platoon and unit under their control. The leader needs to behave a role model for subordinates with spirit of sacrifice and know their characteristics. They must have good moral to give correct leadership to the subordinates. They must lead their followers with the spirit of just, correct attitude and brave decision without bias. As duties are assigned in conformity with the ranks at Tatmadaw, they have to mutually pay respect to and recognize those of lower ranks for their dutiful tasks. Practices must be taken frequently for turning out the soldiers who have full confidence and consideration for making decisions.Moreover, they must try hard to have leadership capability. They must have capabilities of leadership and of taking responsibility and accountability in discharging duty. Anyone will not become a good leader just by discharging assigned duty without endeavours. So, they have to strive for overcoming difficulties and hardships they face with consideration and utmost efforts.

The administrative capacity is systematic management and chains of command for completely carrying out general staff, adjutant and quartermaster tasks and successfully implementing the policies and directives. The main qualification of a leader is to have effective crisis management capacity. If the leader lacks administrative capacity, unity in military unit will decline as well as military capacity will be down. If military and administrative capacities decline, organizational capacity will not be sharpening. Consequently,they will not implement the people’s militia strategy which is the defence policy of the State and will harm the aim of the Tatmadaw to build the Standard Army. While systems and eras are changing, Tatmadaw which is discharging defence duty of the State needs to further strengthen unity in the military units. All Tatmadawmen must make all-out efforts for building the unity in the military unit with might and main. Moreover, they must train themselves to have high military calibre with physical fitness and obedience.

Tatmadaw, being a people’s Tatmadaw formed with offspring of the people, must be one with the people.Therefore, every Tatmadawman strictly abides by the codes of conducts for the people without fail.Abiding by the military codes of conduct, ethics, dos and don’ts and preserving fine traditions of the Tatmadaw, Tatmadawmen need to strive for discharging defence duty of the State as well as carrying out public welfare tasks. As such, Tatmadaw will be one with the people and will implement the people’s militia strategy which is the defence strategy of the State.Tatmadaw, on its part, laid down the six peace principles to ensure genuine and ever-lasting peace. In implementing the peace process, it needs to follow the points included in the NCA and six peace principles.Generally, today’s developing countries can be seen with peace and stability. It can be seen that internal armed confl icts are based on narrowminded politics and nationalistic spirit, racism and extreme racism. As today’s Myanmar is practising democracy, anyone cannot demand things they wish by holding arms.They must hold meetings in political way through respective Hluttaws for seeking answers in order to solve the political problems. As Tatmadaw under the leadership of the government will participate in solving the political problems in political way through eternal peace based on ending the armed confl icts while safeguarding Our Three Main National Causes and exactly abiding by facts in the Geneva Convention,Tatmadawmen need to know peacemaking processes in respective sectors and conscientiously discharge duty.

Then, Vice-Senior General Thiri Pyanchi Soe Win took the salute of the cadet companies and left the parade.

After the parade, Vice-Senior General Thiri Pyanchi Soe Win,together with senior military officers of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief and the commander of Eastern Command, met outstanding award winner cadets and their parents at the parlour of the guest house and spoke words of honour.